


To the end

by SweetAlphaChild



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Naruto Rare Pair Bingo 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-19 16:25:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19136365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetAlphaChild/pseuds/SweetAlphaChild
Summary: Deidara tucks his hair behind his ear, brings the bottle to his lips and takes a long gulp. Obito just stares. It's pointless to argue now whether feeling something for him is right or not. He doesn't care anymore, he just wants Deidara to stay. With him. To the end.





	To the end

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lybra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lybra/gifts).



> Written for Board B: Missing nin/akatsuki

An explosion of red and orange worthy of an artist's brush unfolds in front of them as the sun dips down the cloudy horizon. Obito fiddles with his untouched soda bottle, watching the sky on a fruitless attempt to calm down.

Next to him, Deidara watches too, feet hanging off the edge of the cliff above the coast. Obito knows by now how much he likes fleeting moments of beauty. A half empty bottle of green ramune sits forgotten on his lap. Obito ignores the sunset and focuses on Deidara instead, his eyes reflect the colors of the sky, looking amber instead of blue. He looks paingully beautiful, almost as if he's glowing himself.

For the few minutes that last the comfortable silence, Obito stops caring about everything else.

"Tobi," Deidara mutters his name, taking Obito out of his spell.

"Senpai?"

"I've been thinking about something lately," he pauses, a sense of foreboding kills Obito's previous mood. He awaits the dreadful moment when Deidara drops the rest of the sentence, like he would drop one of his bombs. "I want to be free again."

Obito's heart leaps up at the sound of his voice pronouncing those words. Of course, Deidara has no clue. He has no clue he's talking to Madara Uchiha, and he has no clue of what Madara Uchiha does to people that dare to betray him. Because Obito feels betrayed. The knot in his gut fires burning bile up his throat. He wants to yell. How dare he? How dare he want to leave him too?

It shouldn't be that way. It's Obito who decides when everything ends. He's supposed to be in charge. And he hasn't allowed it. He forces himself to swallow all the bitterness. It also hurts to be mad at Deidara.

"But senpai... I thought you liked to be with me!"

"Come with me."

"W-what?"

"Let's leave together. Fuck the Akatsuki. Fuck the tailed beasts. I left my village cause I was sick of following Onoki-sensei's orders. What's the point of leaving if I'm still in the same situation. it's time to reclaim my freedom."

Obito can't believe his ears. A fuzzy feeling tainted by trepidation fills his chest. He hasn't been this afraid for a long time. Two minutes ago they were just chilling. And now Deidara is trying to convince him to betray his own organization. Just like that.

"Deidara, I..."

"We can work together. Become mercenaries. We don't need a Kage or a leader to tell us what to do, come on. We can make a living off my creations! Just imagine it!"

Deidara has a beautiful excited grin on his face. Obito wishes Madara's legacy would just disappear. Is that smile worth all the efforts of a lifetime? All the suffering he's already spread toward his goal?

_Is Deidara worth the world's eternal happiness?_

He's been dwelling on the subject, but it seems his time is over. Deidara wants an answer now.

"I don't get it... You told me being here wasn't that bad."

"Yeah, it's true, but it can be better, hm," Deidara shrugs. "It can be just us and my art. People will talk about us. I was pretty famous and successful when I betrayed my village and I was just a sixteen year old brat. Imagine what we could achieve now. Imagine how much the bounty over our heads in the bingo book can rise."

Slowly, Obito shakes his head. He's imagined something like that before. Guilty fantasies that popped up in his mind whenever he was too distracted to suppress them. He's imagined him and Deidara in a reality without plans, one in which he doesn't have to hide from him that he's a bastard with a Sharingan. One in which Deidara cares about him enough to forgive all the bullshit he's hiding from him.

"So... Are you coming with me?"

"But," Obito retorts, he needs to convince him to stay at least a few weeks more. "Pein-sama will get real mad at us! He'll send Itachi after us!"

"Yeah! I've thought about that too. Itachi will come after us and I'll finally kill him."

"Silly senpai! Kisame will be with him too!" Obito's voice sounds panicky, and that isn't an act.

"We can beat them. Me and you, hm. You were useless at first, but you've improved a lot, Tobi. We'll kill those two, you'll see."

Obito stands up, startling Deidara and dropping his drink.

"No. You can't leave."

 _'You can't leave me,'_ he means.

And he doesn't sound like Tobi at all, but that's the smallest of his problems.

"Aww, you're worried. Are you doubting my art by any chance?" He teases, the smirk on his face tells him he's not being serious. Deidara stands up too. "Let's go."

"I can't."

Deidara's smile vanishes.

"Why the fuck not?"

"I can't leave the Akatsuki, Deidara-senpai..."

"You must be joking!" He says as he approaches him. Obito flinches at his offended questioning look. "I thought we were a team. A real team!"

It would be less painful if he just stopped talking and left. Obito would at least stop hating himself even more, and if Deidara stays he won't be able to hold back the tears that already prickle behind his eyes. Now he knows that Deidara cares for real. He wishes he didn't. He wishes he never created Tobi in the first place.

"Please forgive me."

"You can't be more loyal to the Akatsuki than to me! That's bullshit, hm!"

"Caring hurts," he manages to say.

Deidara's stare lasts for too long.

"Is that why you're staying?" He pauses again, waiting for him to speak, but Obito would rather stay silent than let him hear his quivering voice. "Tch. What a joke. You're a bigger dumbass than I thought."

"Do you wish you didn't care?"

"Nah," Deidara doesn't even consider the answer. "I can always use this shit mood for inspiration. That's the life of an artist after all."

"Even though it hurts?"

"Yeah," Deidara shrugs. "It can't be helped anyway, can it?"

"What if there was a way to get rid of pain forever?" He tries. He needs to hear his opinion.

Deidara cocks an eyebrow.

"I don't know what you're going on about, but it makes me sick in my mouth to think of such unartistic thoughts."

"I thought so. Sorry for making you sick in your mouth, senpai."

"Dumbass. We've been partners for months now. You should've known my opinion about it, hm."

Deidara takes his ring off and tosses it away. Obito summons all his self-restraint to not intervene. Somehow, watching the shiny little thing fall down the cliff makes him realize that their partnership is over. He'll convince Nagato not to go after him, it's the least he can do. His hand-mouth eats a clay blob and spits it out again in the shape of a bird.

"I can't believe you're staying, I fucking can't. This is ridiculous," he keeps mumbling, as the bird grows up in size. "And all this time I thought we were closer than this. Bullshit! Utter bullshit."

Obito had always been a disappointment. To his team. To his village. To his plan. To Deidara. To himself.

There's dust in his eyes.

Deidara tucks his hair behind his ear, brings the bottle to his lips and takes a long gulp. Obito just stares. It's pointless to argue now whether feeling something for him is right or not. He doesn't care anymore, he just wants Deidara to stay. With him. To the end.

The moment Deidara tosses the empty bottle and starts walking towards the bird, Obito runs after him and wraps his arms around his body. Deidara's back hits his chest, and he snuggles into his comforting warmth.

"I can't let you go," he whispers.

"If you're not coming, get off me now," he hears Deidara say.

Obito doesn't move, he closes his eyes and hugs him tighter, squeezing, shaking, crying.

"I can't let you go, senpai."

He feels Deidara spinning around in his embrace, he grabs his gloved hand and slowly takes off the ring on his thumb.

"You don't have to let me go."

Watch the ring fall into the void lifts a heavy burden off his shoulders.

"I won't," he answers, a rush of excitement tingles through him as Deidara takes his hand.

It brings him memories. Bittersweet ones, but he feels that nothing can go wrong as long as Deidara is with him. The bird crouches and lets them climb on its back so they can start their new journey together.

They're too busy hugging and giggling to watch Tobi's clouded cloak fall to the sea below them.

**Author's Note:**

> I was following Naruto rarepair bingo just as reader but I got some inspiration and wanted to contribute. This wasn't planned but after Lybra (thanks for the idea, this is for you :D) showed me some sunset pics I got this idea. I imagined them watching a nice sunset together and Deidara wishing to be free again and ditch the Akatsuki with Tobi.  
> I know the issue is more complex, but I wanted to write something simple. Hope you enjoyed it ^^


End file.
